How toxic is your cosmetic product?
We might not know it, but some of the products we use on our bodies could be harmful, poisonous even, to our health.
On the eve of Valentine’s Day, non-profit group EcoWaste Coalition, in collaboration with the Manila Science High School, staged an advocacy pageant to promote critical evaluation on the purchase and use of personal care and cosmetic products.
The event came on the heels of a recent investigation by the watch group indicating the unabated sale of banned imported mercury-tainted skin whitening cosmetics in the local market and in online shopping sites.
“We have mounted this pageant to draw attention to cosmetic product ingredients that may cause serious health problems to consumers and the ecosystems and thus should be totally avoided,” said Thony Dizon, EcoWaste Coalition’s Chemical Safety campaigner.
“Chemicals associated with mental retardation, neurological and behavioral disorders, endocrine disruption, reproductive harm and cancer, as well as those that pollute the oceans and poison aquatic life, have no place in one’s beauty and hygiene routine,” emphasized Dizon.
Dizon urged consumers to “press for full information on chemicals in cosmetic products, including their health and environmental effects,” given the continued trade of counterfeit and hazardous cosmetics.
The pageant drew youthful candidates representing cosmetic ingredients of concern, namely, Miss Lead, Miss Mercury, Miss Triclosan, Miss Isobutyl Paraben, Miss Dibutyl Phthalate, and Miss Plastic Microbeads.
These cosmetic ingredients are either banned or restricted by the Food and Drug Administration, Asean, European Union, and/or US regulations.
During the pageant, the audience, composed of 300 Grade 9 consumer chemistry students, had the opportunity to watch the seven-minute film “The Story of Cosmetics,” which examines the pervasive use of toxic chemicals in personal care products, and the two-minute film “The Story of Microbeads,” which discusses how plastic particles in cosmetics are dirtying the oceans.
The Miss Toxic Pretty pageant concluded with the candidates eagerly responding to the questions that delved on a range of issues, including the consumer right to product information, consumer access to non-hazardous products, and teenage views on “kutis-artistahin” and “brown is beautiful.”
To reduce toxic exposures, the EcoWaste Coalition advised consumers to carefully read product labeling information, shun products with incomplete facts and misleading claims, select those with simpler and fewer synthetic compounds, and buy notified products that have passed the FDA’s quality and safety verification procedures.
